Todd P. and hvyj have said that the SHMO was the best "out of the box" harp they have played. Hearing it from these guys made me listen.
I've been sitting in with another band that plays a lot of blues in C minor. They play a lot of Gary Moore and Walter Trout style blues. 5th position works on a lot of this stuff so I knew I needed a new Ab harmonica.
I play Golden Melody all the time, but I have tried Suzuki Bluesmasters, Firebreath, and Promaster. All good harps but just a little stiff for my taste.
The SHMO was a pleasant surprise. Nice tone, easy to bend and the octaves which are common in 5th position sound too sweet. Great for playing a pretty melody as a solo piece in 1st position too.
$55 includes shipping with Rockin Ron. I call on a Monday afternoon from east TN. The harp is there when I go home for lunch on Wednesday....The harp is $99.99 on Suzuki's website.
Nice one Harpdude. Yes they are lovely harps. The best I have played on for overblows OOTB with a nice warm tone, which is different from my promaster 350 and 350v harps which are edgier/brighter. It certainly adds another flavour to my collection of harps and I like it a lot. ---------- Grey Owl YouTube Grey Owl Abstract Photos
The Hammond and ProMaster combs are the same except for the anodizing colour, and the reed profiles are the same too. Todd is right to say that the reed profiles of the older Suzukis are the same too, not optimised for overblowing.
However, the Manji and Fabulous have the new high-precision reedplates, with longer, narrower reeds and tighter reed-slot tolerances (the closest ever achieved in a manufactured harp, according to Suzuki). But the new reedplates can be fitted to any other Suzuki diatonic comb.
If you like the look of the Hammond comb and covers but want better overbend ability, a nice combination is to fit Manji reedplates in place of the stock ones. I've done that with a Promaster comb/covers, and it sounds great; the top octave in particular is fantastic.
Brendan Power WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
A correction to my last post, for Todd and others: although the Firebreath (MR500) and Pure Harp (MR550) have short slot reeds, their reed profiles are different to the Hammond, Promaster, Bluesmaster, Harpmaster etc. They have been engineered at the factory for a thicker sound and better overblow/overdraws.
To answer HVYJ, the reedplates inside the Hammond and ProMaster are the same. However, if you and Todd experience a better tone with the Hammond, then who am I to argue? I do believe that players are the best judge of sound because they are in intimate contact with the instrument. It could be that the lacquered cover finish does give subtly different tonalities to a chrome finish. The look of the Hammond is nice too :)
Brendan Power WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
Last Edited by on Sep 10, 2011 6:10 AM
@tmf714: Reedplates are the same. Brendan and Suzuki may not publicly admit it, but the COMBS are different. I believe the current ProMaster combs are cast (some older ones may have been machined) and they are not always consistently flat. The Hammond combs are machined and are better and more consistently flatter. I think that's what makes the difference.
Also the covers on the Promaster are chrome plated which I think brightens the sound. The Hammonds have a darker, smoother more even tone. I have a set of each and there IS a difference in the tone and response.
I would still take Brendans word for it-he is the International Harmonica Specialist for Suzuki Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co. Ltd
Last Edited by on Sep 10, 2011 8:18 AM
Take a look at some of the posts from Gnarly. He was working for Suzuki repairing harps and he has unequivocally stated in more than one post that the Hammonds sound and play different/better than the Promasters. So I'm pretty confident that it's not just my imagination.
As to whether it's because of the combs, that's only my conjecture. The official position at Suzuki is that the designs of both harps are identical.
Btw, I think that Firebreath is a pretty nice harp. I've got a set of those, too. Love Suzukis!
Last Edited by on Sep 10, 2011 8:41 AM
I personally don't give a rat's ass what it has in common with other harps. If they were "exactly" alike "then" you could say we are full of shit....k...TimElf?
Bottom Line....I have played Promasters and now I have a Suzuki Hammond Mouth Organ.....They SOUND and PLAY different.
@ harpdud-you must have a fetish with rats asses-you sure do use that phrase fairly often here-and by the way,my first name is Tom not Tim-and I still think your full of shit. Why don't you do something constructive,like work on your "throat playing" or your "embrochure" or "armbrochure". The best has to be the "lip slap"-LMAO.
Last Edited by on Sep 10, 2011 9:21 AM
Hey...my buddy Issacullah came up with the term lip slaps...new technique we are working on....nothing wrong with being a little innovative....hey...we got big enough gonadz to put it out there..
OK, tmf714 and harpdude61, give it a rest with the insults.
As for the Hammonds, I made that video back in 2008, before I had a better understanding of reed profiles for overblowing/overdrawing, but I still think they are great sounding harps and have a warmer tone than the Promasters, mainly because of the painted covers in my opinion. And though Suzuki denies it, I've heard the same about the combs as what hvyj describes, and from reliable sources. I doubt Suzuki would ever acknowledge this publicly anyway.
Bottom line is that the Hammonds do play better out of the box than Promasters, and sound great. I like them, but I'm still a Golden Melody fan. :)
Tachi said that my Hammond video has helped them sell many Hammonds, which I find funny since I'm now a Hohner endorsee.
I have a suzuki promaster in A and a Hammond in Bb the hammond outplays the promaster by a mile-they have the same reedplates but the covers are different-dont know for sure but suspect that might be the difference-I have 3 manjis and the hammond outplays all 3 no doubt whatsoever
If I had been basing my review on overblow and bend-ability of overblows...out of the box....then I would agree.
I could get most of the overbends but I still had to go in and regape the reeds on the overbend notes.
I have not found anything that works better for me than Goldan Melodys. If you are a throat player like myself and like to play chramatically....GMs are the best.
I'm sure that the Hammonds could probably be set-up for overblows. I did nothing at all to mine, and I can bend the 5 overblow and 7 overdraw up without squeals. Yes, the profiles are not optimal, but I'm sure they could be made to play better. I agree, Hammonds really are nice harps out of the box.
